Energy Minister Rich Coleman announced Wednesday that the provincial government has received four “new major international LNG project proposals” to develop liquefied natural gas export terminals, all in the Prince Rupert area.

That’s on top of six multi-billion-dollar export facilities already proposed for Kitimat and Prince Rupert, and at least two others that are in preliminary stages of consideration.

Multinational companies including Nexen, Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil, Woodside Petroleum of Australia and Korea’s SK E&S are the latest LNG proponents on a list that already includes Shell, PetroChina, Chevron Canada, BG Group and Petronas.

Nexen is joined in its project by state-owned CNOC — China’s largest producer of gas and oil and Japanese petroleum company INPEX.

Woodside is Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company and operates six of seven LNG processing facilities on that continent.

Imperial/Exxon is the world’s largest international oil and gas company.

In an interview, Coleman said the ministry had been anticipating some of the expressions of interest but that the response from Woodside was unexpected — Australia is considered one of B.C. LNG exporters’ biggest rivals to sign up customers in Asia.

The Korean conglomerate, SK E&S, has been looking up and down the coast for a venue to situate a terminal, Coleman said.

“Will they all go ahead? Big question, but the interest is exceptional — more so than I would have thought even on this (Grassy Point, north of Prince Rupert) one.

“There’s no question it’s a generational opportunity, and it’s huge.”

Just how huge is still a matter of conjecture and should be approached with caution, according to NDP energy critic John Horgan. He accused the government of misleading the public with its announcement so close to next month’s election.

“The disservice this does to the public is that it gives the impression that there is a mad gold rush to develop liquefied natural gas in British Columbia,” he said.

“There are a number of companies that are exploring the possibilities ... but I’ve been speaking with all of the proponents, particularly those that have been looking at the Grassy Point facility, and they’re doing their due diligence. The market will determine how many, if any, of these projects proceed.”

Horgan said he is in favour of exploring ways B.C. can gain a foothold in the Asian energy market, but the province should be careful not to present proposals as if they are finalized projects that will play major role in B.C.’s future economy.

As for Coleman, he said the concentration of companies around Prince Rupert could create an opportunity for companies there to form a partnership on a pipeline to deliver gas from the northeast.

“Our involvement is going to be on the environmental assessment side, for the most part. If you take a place like Grassy Point where these four companies have responded to the expression of interest, chances are they are going to end up working together on a pipeline or a pipeline corridor to service it.”

All the attention makes British Columbia one of the hottest locations in the world for energy development. The new projects could mean thousands of construction jobs, plus the permanent workforce that will operate and maintain LNG plants.

The United States, for example, has 16 proposed LNG projects and it’s assumed that just six of those will pan out.

Liquefied natural gas would be transported to the coast by pipeline, cooled to liquid form, then shipped by tanker to Asian markets. Transporting LNG by tanker is touted as safer than transporting crude oil because LNG is lighter than water and small spills evaporate quickly.

In their February throne speech, the B.C. Liberals said that revenues from taxes on LNG in the coming decades could generate a $100-billion “prosperity fund” for the province.

At an Asia-Pacific forum last week on LNG, speakers suggested that projects under consideration in B.C. face better odds of surviving to fruition.

B.C.’s advantages include vast and in some cases yet-to-be-explored gas reserves that contain, at the least, several hundred years’ worth of supply. B.C. also has relatively short trade routes to connect LNG exporters to growing Asian markets that are anxious to develop long-term energy supply arrangements with producers in politically stable and transparent jurisdictions.

In the Philippines, for example, Middle Eastern LNG exporters are only willing to sell gas to Muslim-dominated parts of the 7,107-island archipelago.

The four new proponents emerged in response to a provincial call for expressions of interest to situate facilities on Crown land at Grassy Point, north of Prince Rupert.

Coleman said the province called in late February for expressions of interest (EOI) after consulting with affected First Nations in the region.

“As part of the EOI process, proponents were asked to identify their financial capacity to build an export facility, experience with LNG operations, and plans to source the natural gas required to support LNG development,” according to a news release.

“Proponents were also asked to include a project description, plans for First Nations and community engagement and consultation, and the potential to work in collaboration with other companies.”

The release said the government is now evaluating the responses to determine how many projects it can accommodate at the Grassy Point site.

LNG export proposals from the Imperial/Exxon and Nexen groups were not unexpected. Both have very large land positions in northeast B.C., where the Montney, Horn River and Liard gas plays are still emerging as world-class energy resources containing hundreds of years of supply.

B.C. still has plenty of challenges ahead in developing the industry. So far, just one project — the $4.5-billion Apache-Chevron Kitimat LNG partnership — has advanced to site preparation work. It has an agreement with 15 First Nations for revenue sharing on the 463-kilometre Pacific Trails pipeline that would be built to carry gas across B.C. from the northeast to the central coast.

“B.C. has an enormous resource. It is really, truly world-class,” Geoff Morrison, B.C. operations manager for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said in an interview.

“Does the market move so that all of those go forward? We will have to wait and see. But by way of gas resources, B.C. has literally hundreds of years of gas available to be produced.”

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